Improvement in automatic hatchway-doors



PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT HENEAGlih-QFEE Ito, NEw voRK, AssIeNo 0F ONE-HALF EIs RIaH-rroALBERT o. STEVENS, or SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN AUTOMATIC HATCHWAV-DOORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 195,276, datedSeptember 18, 1877; application filed July 5, 1877.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT HENEAGE, of thecity of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Doors forElevator-Hatchways, which improvements are fully set forth in thefollowing specification, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing.

My invention relates more particularly to that class ofelevator-hatchway doors which are employed in warehouses, hotels, andother buildings for closing the hatches or 'openin gs through which theelevator cage or platform passes in the difl'erent floors, and which areprovided with suitable catches for holding the door in a closed positionagainst vertical movement in either direction, which catches arereleased automatically as the elevator-cage approaches the doors, so asto permit the cage to open the doors and pass through the hatch.

My invention consists of the particular construction and arrangement ofthe parts, as hereinafter fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of anelevator provided with my improvements, the doors being in a closedposition. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation at right angles to Fig. l.Fig.3is a sectional elevation with the doors partially open. Fig. 4 is asectional elevation at right angles to Fig. 3.

Likeletters of reference designate like parts in each of the figures.

A represents the vertical posts or guides; B, the elevator-cage,traveling between the same; 0, the hoisting mechanism, and D one of thefloors of the building. E E represent two horizontal doors, arranged inline with the floor D, for closing the hatchway through which theelevator-cage passes The doors E E are hinged or pivoted at 0, so as toswing vertically both above and below the level of Y the floor D. f is aspring, secured with its lower end to a cross-piece, g, of theelevatorframe, or to any other suitable support, and bearing with itsfree end against the outer end of each door E, which latter is provided,both on its upper and lower sides, with cams or projections h, arrangedadjacent to the spring f, so that the spring is strained or deflectedwhen the door is swung out of a horizontal position in either direction,thereby giving the spring f a tendency to close the door. 1 representsspring-catches arranged on the elevator-frame, so as to support theinner ends of the doors E E, holding the latter in a horizontal positionin line with the floor D. The catches I are pivoted with their upperends to the elevator-frame, and provided with two inclines, K K,arranged, respectively, above and below the door E, and leavingarectangular recess between the inclines, in which the door is hcld,asshown in Fig. 2. The catches I are held in engagement with the doors Eby springs Z.

In lowering the elevator-cage B, the floor or platform m thereof comesin contact with the upper inclines K of the catches I, forcing the sameaside, so as to release the doors, as shown in Fig. 4. The platform mnext comes in contact with the doors E, swinging the same downwardly andout of the way, as shown in Fig. 3, until the cage has passed throughthe hatchway and cleared the doors, when the latter are swung back intotheir horizontal position by the reaction of the springs f, in whichposition they are automatically locked by the catches I. In raising theelevator-cage the side pieces a of the cage come in contact with thelower inclines K of the catches I, forcing the same aside, so as torelease the doors. which latter are then swung upwardly, and returned totheir horizontal position after the cage has cleared the doors, in theabove-described manner.

By this means the doors are always kept closed, excepting when theelevator-cage passes through the hatchway, thereby preventing accidents,from falling through the open hatchway, and also the spreading of afirefrom one story into the other, which frequently occurs from neglect toclose the hatchways.

When the doors are very heavy, so as not to be easily closed by thesprings f, they may be counterbalanced by weights 0, connected to thedoors by a rope, 0 running over a sheave, 0 or in any other suitablemanner.

Having thus fully described my invention,

respectively, above and below this notch, all constructed and operatingas shown and described.

ROBERT HENEAGE.

Witnesses:

EDWARD WILHELM, CHAS. J. BUOHHEIT.

